finances

So, now you have cleaned up the mess from last year, and you’ve said ‘thank you’ to your great team of volunteers who served faithfully through the year. Now it’s time to turn your focus to the new program year that will kick off in the fall.

At Ministry Architects we recommend that you finish your recruiting for your fall staffing needs around May 1st with some training scheduled shortly thereafter. There are some key components of what you will want to share with your team every year.

What YOUR Team Needs to Know

Vision – First, you’ll want to make sure that your team knows your overall purpose, what it is that they as a team are working to accomplish. A clear mission statement, core values by which you operate, goals for the ministry, and the organizational structure should all be reviewed and shared with the team.

Calendar – Your 12-month calendar for August, 2019 – July, 2020 should be front and center. That calendar will guide everyone’s work and enable your team to get all the important dates on their personal calendars. You’ll also have it ready to share with youth and parents as the year kicks off.

Curriculum Review – Your team will want to know about the content for the coming year. A strong team will need to have its materials well in advance in order to achieve maximum impact. And seeing the overall picture will help your team to see how it all fits together.

Volunteer Needs – Your calendar will enable you to identify all of the very important volunteer duties that must be filled for the year – everything from group leaders to food preparers to bus drivers to major event coordinators, etc. And you’ll be able to recruit all the pieces, before you get to the fall, that are not in place already.

Policies and Expectations – Your team needs to know what the rules and expectations are as they serve in your ministry. Preparing these for your training experience will ensure that your team will be in tip top shape.

Job Descriptions – Many ministry team members serve in volunteer capacities in which everyone assumes what the duties of the role are. Make sure that all the members of your team know what they are supposed to be doing through clear, results-based job descriptions. (Need some help? Click HERE to access helpful resources on the Ministry Architects website.)

Participation Goals – Every event and setting should have a participation goal, the number of participants toward which you are shooting and planning to achieve.

Game Plans – Game plans become a part of what you do so that you can accomplish your goals, e.g. a game plan that enables you to reach your participation goal for a certain event. Game plans enable you to go beyond just hoping that you get there. (Hope, while it is a wonderful thing, is not a plan!)

Major Event Notebooks – Major event notebooks enable you to pass on valuable information from one year to the next, especially as you repeat certain events. Having those notebooks in hand also make recruiting next year’s leaders MUCH easier.

Financial Plan – You may not try to lay out all of the details of your fiscal plan to every member of your team, but there will probably be important aspects of it that would be helpful to certain team members.

Conclusion

If you get all of these pieces in place, you will be well on your way toward a successful fall season, carrying you into a fantastic year.

If you want to explore more about how to get your team in shape for a great season or year, OR if you would like sample team job descriptions, email me at [email protected]. I’d love to spend some time helping you to prepare your team.

Well, wasn’t that Easter Egg Hunt that your youth sponsored for the children’s ministry just a blast! I hope you had plenty of “Extra Eggs for Empty Baskets.”

I heard of a neighborhood that had an Easter Egg Hunt that was a lot of fun, too – kids running everywhere, prize-filled plastic eggs hidden in all sorts of auspicious and inauspicious places, even older “children” hunting high and low, shouts of glee upon the discovery of hidden egg treasures, the fun of “cascarones” (confetti-filled egg shells that children crack on each others’ heads). What a fun way to celebrate Easter and to highlight this very special day and season …

… and then it was over …

… and there were candy wrappers and confetti and brightly colored eggshells everywhere. And the morning dew combined with egg dyes to stain stone and concrete. Made me think of Mike Yaconelli’s infamous episode of staining the “Jones Memorial Carpet” in the church ladies’ parlor.

The end of the program year is a good time for some important cleanup.

Ten Places to Pay Attention at the End of the Year

Evaluate – It’s time to climb up in the balcony for a bird’s eye view of what took place in the last year – all seen through the lens of your stated mission. You should ask questions like, “Did this event really reflect what we were hoping would happen in the lives of our youth?” or “Did Sunday night youth group reflect the values that we had in mind?” You’ll be tempted to look forward, but don’t look ahead until you’ve looked back to evaluate.

Review Policies and Game Plans – Many of these won’t change much, but some will out of necessity, e.g. your communication plan will likely change to reflect new modes of youth communication.

Assess Yourself – What are some of the gaps in your knowledge base or professional skills that need some attention? You should be able to address some of those needs through continuing education plans in the coming year.

Evaluate Your Team of Staff and Volunteers – They might need some spiffing up too in the way of training or simply in team building activity.

Financial Accountability – Take a look at how your ministry performed on the bottom line and how accountable you were to the budget under which you were operating. Too many youth ministries make a fiscal mess that calls for a “cleanup on Aisle 7.”

Tighten Up the Rolls – The end of the year gives you a chance to clean up the youth directory and to make contact with MIA youth before they get away for the summer or, worse yet, for good.

Collect Major Event Notebooks – If you’ve done a good job of providing planning information for major event coordinators, it’s time to make sure that all that good information (with new notes included) gets back to the youth office. You can then prepare that valuable information for next year’s coordinator.

Say “Thank You” – Too often we roll right through the year and make a mess of saying, “Thank you.” The end of the program year presents a good opportunity to stop, gather your folks, and give your volunteers a big bear hug by honoring them with a dinner or worship recognition moment.

Redeem relationships – Sometimes the mess is our own, and we’ve left a broken relationship in the wake of a busy year. It’s time to do what you can to bring healing where there is brokenness and to offer a heartfelt “I’m sorry.”

THEN it’s time to look ahead …

Conclusion

When the Easter Egg Hunt, or whatever it is, has absolutely worn you out,

If you want to explore more about what to do when you’ve “stained the Jones Memorial Carpet,” email me at [email protected]. I’d love to spend some time helping you to clean up the mess, because I want you to have another opportunity to bless the lives of young people.

Let’s talk about it – youth ministry budgets. If we could all be honest, not many of us are rolling in the youth ministry dough. Most likely, you’re living on a shoestring budget and organizing, once again, the annual spaghetti dinner, pancake supper and car wash so your students can go to camp and have a new couch in the youth room that’s not from 1972.

When I was a kid my dad always told me, “Heather, money doesn’t grow on trees.” I wish my dad’s statement wasn’t true, because if it wasn’t, I’d ask for a youth ministry money tree this year for Christmas. If you know my dad, he is a very hard-working man. Every dollar to him mattered. To him, it wasn’t a dollar to waste, but one to steward well. You and I are in a similar situation, wanting to be good stewards of our youth ministry budget, but also getting really tired of all the fundraisers we have to do just to keep the ship running at full speed.

Contact local businesses to see if they can offer free things for outreach events. I can’t tell you how many free slurpees, ice cream cones and hamburgers I’ve gotten from doing this.

Do your research before you buy. Some businesses look to get rid of nearly brand-new stuff. I used to get day old donuts for free from the local grocery store and Panera Bread too. They give all their bagels and breads away for free at the end of each day. All it takes is a phone call and a quick ask. Other places are looking to sell nearly new furniture, too, for next to nothing.

Utilize your congregation. Does anyone own a business, work for the school or have a heart to go above and beyond? Keeping things within your budget is all about playing it smart. Building relationships and making connections with your church congregation brings people on your side. You’ll find more often than not, as long as you’re not just using them for free stuff, people will be quick to come alongside of you. I’ve gotten buses, hundreds of apples, trailers, tons of food, and school gyms all for free or nearly nothing thanks to this approach.

Find fun things to do that don’t tax your budget. Bringing in Lecrae for your next big youth event would be cool, but is it necessary? What about a local Christian band the kids love or something as simple as a dodgeball tournament or movie night? Kids care more about the relationships that are being formed than they do about the thing they’re doing.

Before you fire up the engines for the next spaghetti dinner, think about applying some of these principles if you’re looking to become a budget savvy youth ministry.

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Ministry Architects is a highly-skilled team of pastors, teachers, executives, youth workers, children's pastors, writers and professors. We're fanatical about success and we can help your church find clear direction and sustained momentum backed up by properly aligned resources.